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Create
At this stage, you will learn how to secure funding, seek approvals, engage community, and deliver smart place projects for data-driven insights and decision making.
Goals of this stage
By now, you should have:
- an understanding of your place-based problems that need solving, and outcomes you want to achieve
- a list of potential solutions and a plan to deliver them
- defined benefits and potential costs, with a cost-benefit analysis.
During the create stage, you will need to:
- secure funding to deliver your project(s)
- secure approvals to proceed with your project, including any planning approvals
- procure solutions and deliver digital and physical infrastructure
- support your organisation to use the insights to drive decision making.
Continuing engagement with customers and stakeholders
We encourage you to continue engagement with your community and stakeholders during the create stage.
This could include the following steps:
- keep your community informed about delivery progress, including what to expect when physical infrastructure is installed
- keep your community informed about the data that will be captured and how it will be used
- test and refine data visualisation approaches
- build skills to access data and insights
- continuously seeking feedback.
For more information on engaging with your community, refer to involving your community.
Funding your proposal
When securing funding for your project, consider the:
- upfront delivery costs
- ongoing costs to manage and maintain solutions.
You should also consider:
- funding your project through your organisation's annual budget(s)
- seeking funding support for delivery through NSW and Commonwealth grants programs. These programs are unlikely to provide ongoing funding for operations and maintenance. To explore this option, visit:
- partnering with non-government organisations to achieve funding.
Using your plans from the design stage you can make a case for investment. For more information, refer to establishing costs and benefits.
The approval process for your project will principally depend on:
- your source of funding
- the project's governance structure
- your organisation, and other organisations involved.
Planning approval pathways
Depending on the extent of your project and its physical assets, your project may also need planning approvals to proceed.
Delivering your project
You will need to deliver each element of your smart place in line with your designs.
This includes:
- new or upgraded digital connectivity infrastructure
- devices and enabling infrastructure
- data
- platforms and systems for managing data
- data storage systems
- data visualisation platforms and tools
- other supporting software and systems.
There are different options for procuring and/or delivering each of these elements.
This includes:
- requiring new infrastructure as a requirement in new developments, using planning instruments
- incentivising digital connectivity and enabling infrastructure
- delivering digital connectivity and enabling infrastructure when delivering other infrastructure projects, like footpath, road and public space upgrades
- undertaking competitive procurement for supply and delivery of physical assets
- competitively procuring off-the-shelf, Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions.
When choosing procurement method for physical assets, you should consider:
- which organisation will own the assets after delivery
- how the project could be financed
- the capabilities within your organisation
- the appetite and capability of the market.
The NSW Government Procurement Guidelines can help you explore procurement methods to select one that works for you.
Smart Places resources
Generic Development Control Plan
The generic Development Control Plan Guidelines for Smart Places (PDF 932.27KB) is intended to guide planners and place owners to integrate smart places principles in their relevant planning instruments.
Data for Places – A practitioner's guide
The Data for Places: A practitioner's guide to applying place-based data for effective place management (PDF 967.81KB) includes information for procurement for data and assets. It also includes an example of a Request for Quote.
NSW Procurement Policy Framework
The NSW Procurement Policy Framework applies to the procurement of goods and services of any kind, including construction.
NSW Procurement Methods Guidelines
These guidelines are published by the NSW Construction Leadership Group. It outlines commonly used contract models for infrastructure delivery.
The guidelines include a description of each contract model type, the benefits and risks associated with each model, and the capability required to successfully deliver under the model.
ICT & Digital Sourcing Community of Practice
If you are a NSW Government employee, consider joining the ICT & Digital Sourcing Community of Practice (access request required).
This Community of Practice aims to support strategic and whole-of-government partnerships, and simplify and streamline how government sources digital services.
Join the community of practice to access events, our quarterly newsletter, and key information related to ICT and digital procurement.
Innovation procurement pathways
The NSW Government is creating innovation procurement pathways to make it easier to find and develop the best solutions to problems people face in NSW.
Local Government Procurement
Local Government Procurement is a not-for-profit organisation that provides training and resources to assist local governments in their procurement solutions.
Commissioning and contestability
The NSW Government Commissioning and Contestability Policy outlines the government's vision, guiding principles and mandate for NSW Government agencies.
Internet of Things Policy
Module 6 of the NSW Government's Internet of Things (IoT) Policy is a helpful resource for a market that is still building maturity and capability. This module of the IoT policy provides guidance on best practice procurement for place owners.
Asset handover
You will need to identify a team(s) or business area who would take over ongoing management of your smart place, or assets.
If it is intended that the data gathering or application continues, establish a plan to transition this to 'business as usual'. This may include resources or personnel.
You will need to:
- identify who manages the assets on an ongoing basis
- clearly define roles and responsibilities, including division of tasks
- facilitate a transfer of knowledge to the responsible teams
- identify (and deliver) if any capability uplift may be required ahead of this transition
- establish a data management plan, including ownership, storage and access rights
- identify any funding required to support data purchase, software licensing, collection, processing and storage
- identify any technical specifications that may need to be documented or updated.
Find out more about this in the design stage.